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A preview version of Mozilla's Firefox 22 browser contains a feature that blocks cookies, which has been criticized by advertising trade groups. The preview version will undergo testing before Mozilla proceeds to beta, with release scheduled for June 25. Separately, Mozilla has proposed to create a payments API for Web applications.

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Mozilla's decision to block most third-party cookies in its newest Firefox update will harm the diversity and availability of free content on the Internet, writes Lou Mastria. Advertisers rely on the cookies to deliver more relevant ads to consumers, he notes. "If the Internet advertising ecosystem is damaged, it is those publishers, and the readers who depend upon them, that will suffer. Paywalls will increasingly go up, and in many cases, the smallest content providers may simply lose the ability to sustain themselves and their sites," Mastria writes.

About 60 small Internet businesses are participating in an IAB's Long Tail Alliance Fly-In to petition Congress against plans to make cookie-blocking the default on browsers such as Mozilla's Firefox. Companies such as JoyofBaking.com and Ikeafans.com say that if implemented such cookie-blocking defaults would leave them without the ad-network revenue they need to survive. "While Congress can't do anything to stop Mozilla, it can cajole and use its bully pulpit and make life tough for a nonprofit organization like Mozilla," writes Katy Bachman.

After coming under fierce criticism from trade groups, Mozilla announced it will postpone implementation of a default cookie-blocking capability in the forthcoming version 22 of the Firefox browser. The company said it will use the delay "to collect and analyze data on the effect of blocking some third-party cookies."

The next version of Firefox will include default third-party-cookie restrictions -- but that shouldn't mean doom for digital marketers, writes Pam Horan. Advertisers may have to rethink some of their strategies, but that recalibration will also force brands to refocus on forging meaningful relationships with consumers. "Let me be clear, in spite of the rhetoric, Mozilla's decision will not break the Internet," Horan writes.

The "click-to-play" feature in the Firefox browser is being used by Mozilla to disable all plug-ins except the most recent version of Adobe's Flash Player, Gregg Keizer writes. "By only activating plug-ins that the user desires to load, we're helping eliminate pauses, crashes and other consequences of unwanted plug-ins," Mozilla's Michael Coates wrote in a blog post.